The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-01-29

What mas become OF the BenOer0,
the Montgomery county family of
murderers? has often been asked,
and all the attempts to answer it
have so far been unsuccessful. Ar
rests have been made in nearly
every state in the Union, and every
time an investigation proved that
the officers of the law were on the
wrong scent. 1t has got so now
that it is the common joke in this
section of the state to announce the
taking Of some of that notorious
family, writes an Usage Mission,
Kan, correspondent of the Kansas
City Times. Long ago their cap
ture was given up, and the belief
that they were caught and sum-
marily dealt with before they had
an opportunity to escape from tho
immediate vicinity of their crimes
as gradually come to he accepted.
In view of this fact the following
incident, related to your representa-
tive by prominent attorney of
this place, may be of interest.
That gentleman was engaged in
some important legal business in
Montgomery county. Having cause
to visit Independence, and findin
that he could REACH there and ac-
complish his purpose to better ad
vantage by going across the country
in carriage he, accompanied by
another gentleman, started that
way. 1t so happened that they
passed within a short distance Of
the Bender place, and his COM
panion was pointing out the lOca-
ton and explaining how the house
stood, and where the graveyard was
located in which the inhuman
brutes buried their victims. He
had been talking for some time,
and seemed perfectly familiar with
all the details, when the attorney.
for some cause he could not ex-
plain, abruptly asked, breaking in
on the other party while speaking:
What became of the Bender
family?"
The speaker stopped and eyed him
for the space of ten seconds without
saying a word. He then answered
by asking another question:
"Who are you and where are
you from?"
The mans manner was rather
suspicious, but the attorney having
satisfied him as to his identity and
business, he very soon became CON-
municative again, and went on TO
explain that when the murder If
Col. York took place he was living
within two miles of the Bender
farm, and had been present when
the bloody cellar was discovered
and afterward when the private
graveyard had been found and tie
various victims of this horrible
butchery were dug up amid IL .
curses and threats of the angry
mob. He still became more coni.-
Dental, and asked if his companion
would really like to know what be-
came of the Benders. Being in
formed that he most certainly
would, and having received as.
surances that no questions would
be asked, or any attempt made to
obtain further information than
was volunteered, he then gave the
following account of their disap-
pearance:
"Not one of the Bender family is
alive now. They were all caught
before they had a chance to go but
a little ways from the scene of their
misdeeds and given quick and sure
justice. John and the old man
and woman were hanged. begging
like towards for their lives.
"Kate fought, and despite all
the efforts of the parties who took
them, they could not hang her, and
at last one of them drew q revolver
and shot her, killing her dead on
the spot. She was game, however,
to the very last, biting, scratching
and kicking her assailants in such
a furious manner that it was i'm
possible to do anything but to kill
her like dog. She never begged
or seemed to exhibit any concern
for what she had done, or what was
going to be done with her. When
she found what her captors were
going to do she seized the first
thing of which she could get hold,
and made an attack on her nearest
pursuer, and kept it up till she
was killed. The others, however,
begged for life in the most abject
manner, especially the old man.
whose piteous cries were only cut
short by the rope as it choked the
wind out of him. Their bodies are
in Indian Territory, and some peo-
pie may know where they are, but
not for the present"
The stranger then became silent.
and did not seem inclined to give
any further particulars. From
facts afterward learned the truth
of the story can be depended on.
or ct least, 90 thought the attorney
to whom it was related. The fact,
too, that Col. York went down